


Dawn

by bornforwar_archivist



Series: Sweet Dreams [10]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-31
Updated: 2006-12-31
Packaged: 2020-03-17 09:54:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18962887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bornforwar_archivist/pseuds/bornforwar_archivist
Summary: By Avalon DraculPost "school hard" season 2, spike shows up in sunnydale and someone's tampering with Buffy and Spike's dreams...only in dreams can they be lovers.





	Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Delenn, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Born For War](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Born_For_War), which closed in 2015. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in March 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Born For War collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bornforwar).
> 
> Disclaimer: They aren’t mine. 
> 
> Summery: post 'school hard' season 2, spike shows up in sunnydale and someone's tampering with Buffy and Spike's dreams...only in dreams can they be lovers. 
> 
> Rating: R

_Spike held Buffy tightly, her head against his chest as they lay together on her bed. She had her arms wrapped around his waist and her eyes were shut tightly, tears squeezing from the sides of them. Spike kissed the top of her head, stroking her hair. "It'll be all right." He assured her. "We'll get through this."_  
  
"But what if we don't?" Buffy looked up at him, her usual sparkling hazel eyes dark and fearful. "I failed them all." She whispered, burying her face in his chest and sobbing, Spike held her tighter and pressed his face against her hair.   
  
"No, luv." Spike whispered back. "You'll win, I believe in you." He kissed her again and brought her face up towards him, brushing her tears away with his thumbs. "There now, darling, no need to panic, it'll all turn out right, you'll see." He smiled and kissed her gently, his hands sliding down her bare shoulders before bracing against her warm back.   
  
"How're you so sure?" she asked, sniffing and managing a smile back and a short laugh. "What, are you psychic or something?"   
  
"Course not, just in love." He laughed and rubbed her back. "Not going to let you off that easily, not now."   
  
"You really love me, don't you?" She asked, searching in his eyes. "How?"   
  
"Oh, we aren't going to get into that whole "soulless daemon" thing again, are we?" he grinned and shifted her on top of him, looking up at her and pushing her hair behind her ear.   
  
"But you are—a soulless daemon." Buffy pointed out.   
  
"So I've noticed." He nodded, a fake look of superiority, she smiled and slapped his shoulder. "Luv, being soulless doesn't mean you're heartless. It just makes it a little easier to give into your more carnal needs." He kissed her shoulder.   
  
"Oh no you don't." Buffy said, batting him away. "Not this time, not when we're in eminent danger from your psycho girlfriend."   
  
"I resent that, Slayer." Spike mocked offense. "For one, as I've said, Dru isn't psycho. And two I think I've made it quite clear that she is my ex-psycho girlfriend, as I'm sure she's realized as I'm chained up just like you are."   
  
"What are we going to do, Spike?" She asked, her face changing to seriousness.   
  
"It's not like you haven't been in worse spots then this, after all, you did die." He pointed out.   
  
"Yea, but Xander was there to save me and he, being chained too, isn't going to be much help." She lay her head down on his chest and closed her eyes.   
  
Then she heard the beating, steady and strong. She looked up in surprise and Spike screamed. "Awake now, are we?" Natasha smiled brightly at Buffy as soon as her eyes opened. "I was beginning to think that we'd gone and killed you." She turned around and walked back to her chair, sitting down casually and throwing her feet up again.   
  
"Isn't that what you want?" Buffy asked.   
  
"I'm really disappointed in you, poppet, do you really think that my intentions are that conventional?" She asked.   
  
"Well, you are the bad guy." Buffy sighed; looking over at Spike who had been chained beside her but had obviously been moved, as the chains he had been in hung empty beside her.   
  
"Oh, if you're looking for your little vampyre-boy Dru had some pressing issues to go over with him, if you know what I mean." Natasha smiled and laughed. "You have to respect a girl who's willing to kill to get over a bad breakup." She stood up and walked back to Buffy, running the back of her hand across her face, Buffy spat in her face, her eyes flashing. Natasha just smiled and wiped it away with her other hand. "Come come, that's no way to treat your jailor."   
  
"Mistress?" One vampyre called to her. "The—ahem—priest is here." He bowed down, obviously afraid of his "mistress."   
  
"Oh, how lovely." Natasha smiled, turning around and walking towards a darker part of the warehouse that Buffy couldn't see. "If you're looking for your friends you might what to look up." She called over her shoulder.   
  
Buffy looked up into the rafters and saw five pairs of feet and parts of legs before the shadow covered the rest. She narrowed her eyes and was able to identify them: Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Giles and her mom. "Mom!" She called. "Giles, Willow!" but none of them responded. "Mom!" her voice grew frantic.   
  
"Not dead yet." Dru said, surprising the Slayer. "The party hasn't started, but they will die." She smiled, walking close to Buffy.   
  
"What the hell are you going to do with me?" Buffy asked, her voice angry but quavering.   
  
"So many pretty things." Dru answered vaguely. "Spikey had to go, I told him not to but he just wouldn't listen." She sighed.   
  
"What did you do to him?" She demanded. "What did you do to my friends?"   
  
"Mmm." Dru closed her eyes and smiled, wrapping her arms around herself and dancing. "Do you hear the music? It sounds like a music box…" she opened her eyes, her whole demeanor changing. "Sometimes they scream. But they always have to be quiet before I break their necks." She said candidly.   
  
"Yea, that's great, now why don't you be a good girl and untie me so I can kill you?" she asked darkly.   
  
Dru looked at her, her eyes widening in fear before she burst out laughing.   
  
"Oh good, we're having fun already, are we lover?" Natasha asked as she walked back to her, a man wearing a long, brown robe, hood over his face walked just behind her—Buffy realized he wasn't walking, he was floating, he didn't seem to have feet at all. "Now we're all ready!" Natasha smiled at Dru who beamed. "Shall we begin?"   
  
"Yes, lets." Dru smiled, clapping her hands. "Such fun!"   
  
Natasha motioned to the other people in the shadows. A loud grinding sound echoed through the empty building and the feet above Buffy jolted and began moving down.   
  
Once they were out of the shadows Buffy saw that their wrists were chained to a long pole that was clamped to a huge crane, a sixth pair of feet appeared next to the others that had been in the shadow: Angel's. "Angel!" Buffy called up to him.   
  
"Buffy?" he called back, his voice cracking and slurred. She saw that his body was riddled with slashes and holes, his face was black and blue and blood was dripping from his lips. He was in the worst shape of all of them, her friends and mother seemed to be perfectly fine, but unconscious.   
  
"Oh how sweet, reunited at last." Natasha smiled. "But—aren't you going to tell him about your new love?" Natasha asked, smiling, Buffy shot her an angry glance.   
  
"Let me have him, Natasha? Let me have daddy, he must be punished for the nasty things he's done to ruin our celebration." She begged.   
  
"When we're done you can do whatever the hell you want with him. Hell, you can have all of them, except the Slayer, she's mine." She smiled back at Buffy. "Don't worry darling, I've got something special planned just for you." She motioned to the floating priest who pulled a large book and some candles from inside his robe, setting them up at Buffy's feet.   
  
"What are you going to do to me?" Buffy asked, her voice monotone and angry.   
  
"Oh we'll kill you—eventually. You really should have listened to bleach-boy, we knew you were coming, we were expecting it. We can't have a proper party without some entertainment!" she laughed.   
  
"And favors." Dru pointed out. "And pretty balloons and puppies…"   
  
"Later, pet." Natasha cooed, stroking Dru's face and looking at her warmly. "We'll have all we want when we're done. We'll burn this city to the bloody ground." She smiled, grabbing the back of Dru's head and smashed her lips to the vampyre's. Dru reacted with as much passion and Buffy grimaced. It was bad enough to watch Giles and Jenny make mooneyes at each other.   
  
"Hey, can we keep the kissing to a minimal here?" Buffy asked angrily.   
  
"Jealous, poppet?" Natasha moved over to her, running her hands up Buffy's body. "Not in a million years." Buffy growled, she heard Angel yell something at Natasha and the clank of chains as he tried to free himself.   
  
"Mmm." Natasha smiled. "But we'll be one soon, my love, and there's no avoiding me then." She kissed Buffy harshly, holding her head still as Buffy tried to get away. She was surprised at Natasha's strength; she was, after all, only human.   
  
"Not for long, lovey." Dru answered her thought as Natasha returned to her. Her big, crazy eyes moved to the priest who was holding a cross to his chest and praying avidly. A pained look moved across Dru's face and Buffy remembered that Dru had once lived in a nunnery, but as soon as it appeared it was gone and Dru smiled. "Not for long…"   
  
The priest stood, the candles lit themselves, black flames dancing from their wicks. He took Natasha's wrists and pulled her to where Spike had been chained, closing the manacles around the girl's wrists and ankles. Without a word he returned to where he had knelt and picked up the cross again and prayed some more. His words were either too garbled to understand or in a different language, no matter how Buffy strained her ears she couldn't understand them. Buffy saw Dru shrink back into the shadows and a hush cast over the murmuring crowd just out of sight.   
  
"Buffy, you got to get away!" Angel yelled at her, still struggling. "Don't let him touch you!"   
  
Buffy could barely hear him, he sounded miles away. Her eyes had attached to the black flames and she felt like she was slipping out of herself. She felt weak and useless, like she didn't even have the energy to care that whatever the monk was doing it was probably going to kill her. She sagged in her chains, her eyes rolling up in her head and her head falling forward, chin on her chest, her hair covering her face. She smelled flowers…   
  
"Buffy!" Angel yelled. He kicked the closest person to him: Giles, but he wouldn't wake up. "Wake up old man!" He yelled frantically. "Wake up!"   
  
The monk suddenly stopped chanting, he turned and looked back into the dark, another grinding sound came and the crane moved down so that it was just in the monk's reach. Angel struggled frantically but the chains held and the people remained unconscious. He looked furiously down at the monk who raised one of his bony hands, Angel's head fell and he was quiet, unconscious like the others.   
  
Once he was out the man working the crane walked out, unlocking the cuffs and letting the six people fall in a heap on the cement floor before he went back to his post. The priest moved to each of the unconscious people and slit open one of their palms, letting their blood fill a cup he had produced from his sleeve.   
  
Once it was full he moved back to Natasha who smiled, readily drinking from it when the monk held it to her lips. She started to say something but he held up his hand sharply and she fell silent, only slightly annoyed.   
  
Finally he set a crystal orb between the two women, Natasha wondered vaguely where he hid all of his things. He poured what was left of the blood over the globe and a dull light appeared in the center of it. "Blood of my blood—bone of my bone." He whispered, his voice was unlike anything that anyone had ever heard before, it was indescribable but every person and daemon in the room felt it put fear into their hearts and they all shrunk back from it. Natasha's eyes grew wide, both his voice and the blood she'd drank started to kick in. She felt like she was floating and falling and drowning and on fire all at once. She cringed in pain, biting her lip to keep from crying out. Blood dripped from her lips, sliding down her pale chin and to the floor where as soon as they touched the cement it sizzled and burnt holes.   
  
"My lord, god, father of Adam and father of Eve, the great architect of the universe and all of it's trappings I call upon you to walk here with me." The monk called, his voice started to burn at everyone's ears, there were yells and the onlookers fled, their ears covered feudally with their hands. "My lord, father of man and daemon alike, bringer of both death and life, I call you to walk here with me!" his voice rose, Natasha screamed, her blood dripping from her eyes and lips, nose and rushing from her ears. She could feel her heart exploding in her chest and her eardrums bursting. "My lord, smiter of the wicked, bringer of the flood and destroyer of all that is, I call upon you to walk here with me!"   
  
Buffy's head snapped up, her eyes glowed unearthly gold. "We are here!" her voice was even more powerful then the monk's, it sounded like a man and a woman speaking in unison. Natasha screamed again and again until her lungs burst and her throat felt like it was on fire and all she could do was scream silently. It seemed like all of the monk's power was now on Buffy, whatever he'd done to keep Giles, Willow, Xander, Jenny, Cordelia, Joyce and Angel unconscious it wore off and each of them woke up slowly, disoriented. However, when they did come to their senses they found themselves unable to do anything except stare at what was going on.   
  
"I call upon you to leave this woman! Do not bestow your blessings upon her further, she is unworthy of your grace, my lord!" he called. "I beg of you to give your gift instead to this woman, allow her to be your vessel of life and light!" he indicated to Natasha, dipping his fingers into the blood that was now boiling on top of the crystal globe, it burnt his fingers but he did not cry out, instead he painted a cross on Natasha's forehead. "Take from her what you have given and instead to this woman! She is your humble servant, my lord, your slave to do your bidding! She will bring your name glory as this one could never!"   
  
Buffy did not respond, she instead closed her eyes as if pondering the request. "The light take and the light givith away. I will take from one vessel and give to another, is this what you wish?" "Yes my lord! All of the power within the vessel shall be within her!" he pointed at Natasha.   
  
"Very well." She closed her eyes and her head fell, a single blood tear rolling down her cheek, the light moving from her head and into the globe that burnt so brightly that even the monk had to look away.   
  
"Blood of my blood, bone of my bone!" The monk yelled, a beam shot from it and connected with Natasha's forehead in the center of the cross, burning a hole in her skin and skull. She yelled silently, her eyes squeezed shut and her arms and legs jerking.   
  
"Blood of my blood, bone of my bone." A dark, British voice came, hoarse and broken. Spike threw his tired body in front of Buffy, holding onto her shoulders to keep from falling, his face buried in the crook of her neck, he covered her head with his arms, he couldn't let this happen, not to Buffy. A second lash of light shot from the crystal orb and connected to the back of Spike's head, his flesh sizzled and he cringed in pain, yelling as he was lifted from the floor, his arms out from his body and legs together like a modern-day burning Jesus.   
  
"No, my lord!" the monk yelled when he realized what had happened. "Not this one, he is not clean, he is not worthy! He is not your vessel!"   
  
Then everything was silent, Natasha's eyes were wide and mouth open, the monk stared in awe as the room seemed to glow unnaturally. "All are mine." The man and woman's voice came, this time from Spike's mouth. "All are sacred. He is not what he seems for good cannot exist without evil. The balance must remain."   
  
Then there was the deafening sound of a thousand screams for mercy, more appalling then anything any of the conscious had heard. The light was unbearable, beautiful and terrible at the same time. Dru who had remained moved forward into the light, her eyes wide and staring at Spike in awe, the voices didn't seem to faze her. She fell to her knees, tears of joy sliding from her eyes, her arms raised in penitence. Then what seemed like a sonic boom shook the room, the light shot outwards like ripples in a pond, the priest screamed as it hit him full force, throwing him backwards, his robes catching on fire, his hood falling from his face to reveal a tired and terrified old man's face. He screamed as the flames burnt him alive until he was reduced to less then ash. All of the people (besides the six that had been kidnapped) that had remained followed in his steps, screaming as the incinerated. Only Dru remained, crying.   
  
Then everything was silent. Spike fell to the cement floor, his head hitting harshly with a sickening crack. Natasha's head fell to her chest and her body went lax, blood dripped from her nose, lips and ears—she was dead.   
  
Joyce got to her feet first, running to Buffy and trying to open the chains. "Buffy, wake up!" she cried, cradling her daughter's head in her arms. "Wake up, baby, it's over!"   
  
Buffy murmured, moving her head and Joyce cried out in relief. The others rushed over to her; Angel broke open the chains and laid her gently on the floor. Spike lay forgotten; Dru was on her back staring at the ceiling with wide and innocent eyes. "Buffy?" Angel asked touching her face hesitantly.   
  
Buffy sat up with a start, surprising everyone, and taking in a harsh breath, coughing and then starting to cry as Dru had. Xander pulled her into his arms, Joyce holding the other side of her. "Shhh." She whispered. "It's over, it's over." Buffy looked up at Xander fearfully. "S-Spike?" she whispered, not sure she wanted to know the answer.   
  
Xander looked behind him were Spike lay silently. Angel stood up, a pained look on his face. "Buffy—" Giles started.   
  
"Don't!" Buffy yelled, crawling over to Spike. "Spike?" she asked, her voice shaking as she shook his shoulder to no avail. "Spike? Please, wake up." She called pitifully. "Spike!" she cried.   
  
"Buffy?" came Dru's soft voice, surprising everyone. Buffy looked over at her hatefully. She was just able to raise one of her hands, holding it to Buffy who stared at it unbelievingly. "Please—I'm dieing—don't hate me." It seemed like the light had brought her back to her senses, no insanity was in her and her eyes were dark and sad.   
  
Buffy stood up and walked slowly over to stand above Dru. "Take care of him." Dru whispered. "Love him as he loved me, I could never understand it. I could never understand him." She looked over at Spike. "Be happy my love." She whispered to him. "Live happy." Her eyes closed softly and she gasped before she gently melted into ash. "Thank you…" she whispered and then she was gone.   
  
Spike coughed harshly, Angel unconsciously moved to him, no matter how much he hated him it was still his instinct to be a father to him.   
  
"Buffy?" Willow asked softly, Buffy looked over at her with scared eyes. Willow smiled and nodded, Buffy felt her heart fly, she understood.   
  
Buffy lowered herself to her knees beside him. "Spike?" she asked softly, glancing up at Angel who looked at her sadly before moving back to the other people.   
  
Spike continued to cough, making a gagging sound, blood coming from his mouth and his fingers grasping at the smooth cement. "Breathe." Buffy whispered, she didn't know how she knew but he was alive.   
  
Spike looked at her and took a deep breath, causing him to cough again. This time he knew to breathe, however, and it ended much more quickly. "Slayer—god, I'm so sorry." He coughed, grabbing onto her, his hands on her cheeks, kissing her again and again. "Are you all right?" he asked, his eyes concerned and pained.   
  
"Spike, you're alive." Buffy whispered, smiling.   
  
The Powers that Be smiled down on them. "Together they will be much more then they ever could have been apart." The woman said, looking into a fountain where the reflection of Buffy and Spike holding onto each other as Spike gasped for breath. "Yes." The man answered. "A hundred and twenty-four years he waited for her."   
  
"Perhaps now he can begin to forgive himself." The woman looked up at the man. "Begin to reach what he will become."   
  
"And the dreams?" The man asked, cocking his head and looking down at the pool where Buffy and Spike were walking out into the sunrise, the rest of the group following, Angel standing in to doorway and watching them go.   
  
"He knew that he had to do it." The woman answered. "He knows he was never meant for her." She touched Angel's reflections. "He has a lot longer to live, more to do, he cannot afford love or life."   
  
"Perhaps." The man answered. "Besides, the seer has not yet awakened." He looked at Cordelia's back. "She will bring him love."   
  
"Yes." The woman agreed. "The reflection moved back to Buffy and Spike. "And now they can begin their lives." She smiled. "The Slayer and her Vampyre."   
  


The Beginning...


End file.
